Daughter builds on mother's classic sauce

1:22 PM,
Nov. 24, 2012

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My mom's sauce -- we called it "sugo" when it was served atop spaghetti or butterfly pasta every Sunday and Thursday -- wasn't in the lineup of 14 homemade tomato sauces assembled for a taste-testing contest this month at the Italian American Cultural Society in Clinton Township.

But I caught hints of the garlic she sautéed, the whole carrot she placed in the pot to sweeten the tomatoes and the bay leaf she added for a little zing in the lovingly simmered sauces presented for judging.

It's hard not to think of my late mom -- Nanda Vacca Montemurri -- whenever I smell the sizzle of garlic and onion ...